yourstudent_geminifandomcom-20200216-history
Pedestrian zone
Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, and as pedestrian precincts in British English) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in which most or all automobile traffic may be prohibited. Converting a street or an area to pedestrian-only use is called pedestrianisation. Pedestrianisation usually aims to provide better accessibility and mobility for pedestrians, to enhance the amount of shopping and other business activities in the area and/or to improve the attractiveness of the local environment in terms of aesthetics, air pollution, noise and crashes involving motor vehicle with pedestrians. However, pedestrianisation can sometimes lead to reductions in business activity, property devaluation, and displacement of economic activity to other areas. In some cases traffic in surrounding areas may increase, due to displacement, rather than substitution of car traffic. Nonetheless, pedestrianisation schemes are often associated with significant drops in local air and noise pollution, accidents, and frequently with increased retail turnover and increased property values locally. A car-free development generally implies a large scale pedestrianised area that relies on modes of transport other than the car, while pedestrian zones may vary in size from a single square to entire districts, but with highly variable degrees of dependence on cars for their broader transport links. Pedestrian zones have a great variety of approaches to human-powered vehicles such as bicycles, inline skates, skateboards and kick scooters. Some have a total ban on anything with wheels, others ban certain categories, others segregate the human-powered wheels from foot traffic, and others still have no rules at all. Many Middle Eastern kasbahs have no wheeled traffic, but use donkey-driven or hand-driven carts for freight transport. History The idea of separating pedestrians from wheeled traffic is an old one, dating back at least to the Renaissance. However, the earliest modern implementation of the idea in cities seems to date from about 1800, when the first covered shopping arcade was opened in Paris. Separated shopping arcades were constructed throughout Europe in the 19th century, precursors of modern shopping malls. A number of architects and city planners, including Joseph Paxton, Ebenezer Howard, and Clarence Stein, in the 19th and early 20th centuries proposed plans to separate pedestrians from traffic in various new developments. The first "pedestrianisation" of an existing street seems to have taken place "around 1929" in Essen, Germany. This was in Limbecker Straße, a very narrow shopping street that could not accommodate both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Two other German cities followed this model in the early 1930s, but the idea was not seen outside Germany. Following the devastation of the Second World War a number of European cities implemented plans to pedestrianise city streets, although usually on a largely ad hoc basis, through the early 1950s, with little landscaping or planning. By 1955 twenty-one German cities had closed at least one street to traffic, although only four were "true" pedestrian streets, designed for the purpose. At this time pedestrianisation was not seen as a traffic restraint policy, but rather as a complement to customers who would arrive by car in a city centre. Pedestrianisation was also common in the United States during the 1950s and 60s as downtown businesses attempted to compete with new suburban shopping malls. However, most of these initiatives were not successful in the long term, and about 90% have been changed back to motorised areas. Definitions and types Car free towns, cities and regions A car-free zone is different from a typical pedestrian zone, in that it implies a development largely predicated on modes of transport other than the car. A pedestrian zone may be much more limited in scope, for example a single square or street being for pedestrians, but largely serviced by cars. Examples A number of towns and cities in Europe have never allowed motor vehicles. archetypal examples are: * Venice, which occupies many islands in a lagoon, divided by and accessed from canals. The city has been car-free for more than three decades. Motor traffic stops at the car park at the head of the viaduct from the mainland, and water transport or walking takes over from there. However, motor vehicles are allowed on the nearby Lido. * Sark, an island in the English Channel, is a car-free zone where only bicycles, carriages and tractors are used as transportation. Car-free development The term car-free development implies a physical change, either a new building or changes to the existing built-up area. *Normally provide a traffic-free immediate environment *No parking or limited parking separated from residence *Are designed to enable residents living without a car This definition (which they distinguish from the more common "low car development") is based mainly on experience in North West Europe, where the movement for car-free development began. Within this definition, three types are identified: *Vauban model *Limited Access model *Pedestrianised centres with residential population Limited access development The more common form of carfree development involves some sort of physical barrier, which prevents motor vehicles from penetrating into a car-free interior. Pedestrianised centres Whereas the first two models apply to newly built car-free developments, most pedestrianised city, town and district centres have been retrofitted. Pedestrianised centres may be considered car-free developments where they include a significant number of residents, mostly without cars, due to new residential development around them or because they include dwellings as they are pedestrianised. Characteristics and benefits of carfree developments Several studies have been carried out on European carfree developments. The most comprehensive was conducted in 2000 by Jan Scheurer. Other more recent studies have been made of specific car-free areas such as Vienna's Floridsdorf car-free development. Characteristics of car-free developments: * Very low levels of car use, resulting in much less traffic on surrounding roads * High rates of walking and cycling * More independent movement and active play for children * Less land taken by parking and roads, so more available for green or social space The main benefits found for car-free developments: *Low atmospheric emissions *Low road accident rates *Better built environment conditions *Encouragement of active modes. The main problems are related to the parking management. Where parking is not controlled in the surrounding area, this often results in complaints from neighbours about overspill parking.